What are some good iPod speakers?

November 3, 2009 3:55 PM

Looking to buy some speakers for my iPod which I have absolutely no experience with. Looking for something in the $150 - $200ish range.

Specifics:

-Don't really care about how it looks.
-Don't want it too big or too small.
-I'm shooting for no more than $200, but if there are some phenomenal speakers for more than that, I can go higher.
-I've seen some with sub woofers, how much of a difference do those make?

posted by MaryDellamorte to Technology (9 answers total)

What kind of iPod do you have? If you get one of those iHome-type docks, make sure that it supports charging the model that you have. We have a iHome that's about 2 or 3 years old, and it doesn't charge my 4th-gen Nano. I'd assume that this isn't a problem with newer models, but just double-check the specs.
posted by radioamy at 4:10 PM on November 3, 2009

Response by poster: Oh I have an iPod touch.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 4:14 PM on November 3, 2009

I bought this Altec Inmotion last Christmas as a gift for my husband after asking a question here. He's a musician, so I wanted to get it right. He just mentioned last week how much he liked it.
posted by raisingsand at 4:48 PM on November 3, 2009 [1 favorite]

We've got a JBL portable speaker and I really like it. It's small and easy to travel with, but has very good quality sound. (It gets bad interference with the iPhone, so we have to use it in airport mode, but I presume that's not an issue for you.) We've also got another set of JBL speakers, which at this point are our main speakers downstairs, and their sound quality seems quite decent to me.

If you're a serious audiophile, they probably wouldn't be good enough, but then if you were a serious audiophile, I don't suppose you'd be asking this question...
posted by leahwrenn at 4:51 PM on November 3, 2009

When I travel, I always cart my Logitech portable speakers, which are very reasonably priced and really have amazingly good sound for the price. For an at home version, you cannot beat Audioengine's speakers, and you can find those for $200 or not much more.
posted by bearwife at 4:51 PM on November 3, 2009

Sub woofers add proper bass to the set-up.

It may help to focus your search by thinking about where and how you want to use the speakers. Are you looking for placing them in the middle of the room and filling a space with sound? If so, the JBL On Stage 400P looks pretty keen. Are you looking for something to boost the sound when watching a movie? Scosche Soundscreen could be sufficient.

Newegg has an iPod/iPhone speaker dock section, listing some 600 options. Overwhelming? Yes, but you can quickly filter the list based on price and ratings, and I really like Newegg for the more detailed reviews and critiques. Plus, many items have free shipping or significant mark-downs.
posted by filthy light thief at 4:59 PM on November 3, 2009

Just bought these Philips DC199B, I think they are excellent for $85 or so on Amazon. They have good reviews too at various places.
posted by carter at 7:59 PM on November 3, 2009

I've had the Logitech Pure-Fi Dream for a while now. It's built like a beast, sounds great, has an alarm and AM/FM receiver. It's also right in your price range.
posted by squorch at 8:58 PM on November 3, 2009

Either the AudioEngine A2 or M-Audio AV40. Search for reviews on sites like head-fi or AVS forum.

A subwoofer would be nice, but you should be able to get by without one using either of those speakers (depending upon what kind of music you like). You can always add a sub later.

Don't waist money on crappy computer speakers or iPod docks.
posted by paulg at 7:57 AM on November 4, 2009